RT’S NEW YORK AUDIENCE TRIPLES IN ONE YEAR

MOSCOW, May 30, 2012 — RT’s New York-based audience increased nearly 3 times in 2011[1], while its Washington audience grew by more than 60 percent over the same period, according to a Nielsen survey.[2]

Nielsen carried out its first simultaneous survey of international news networks audience in America’s five major cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and San Francisco. According to the survey, in these cities RT leads other international broadcasters. For example, in Washington, DC, RT’s daily audience is 13 times larger than that of the German Deutsche Welle, nearly 8 times larger than that of the Chinese CCTV News, and almost 4 times larger than the respective audiences of Euronews and France 24. The number of RT viewers in New York is 9 times greater than the audience of the Japanese NHK World[3], and in Chicago RT crowd is 3 times larger than that of Qatar’s Al Jazeera English[2].
The survey shows that RT’s daily audience in New York has increased 2.65 times in 2011 alone, while its viewership in Washington, DC grew by 60.9 percent over the same period[1].
“The growth of our audience in the largest cities in the US, especially in New York and Washington, DC, is a clear proof that we have firmly established ourselves as an alternative to the American mainstream media. More and more residents of the US require access to new information and different perspective, which they find at RT,” – said RT Editor-in-Chief of Margarita Simonyan.
According to Nielsen, the average RT viewer based in one of the 5 surveyed American cities is a male aged between 35 and 49. While most hold an undergraduate degree, over 20 percent of RT viewers have a Master’s degree or a Ph.D. as well. In terms of occupation, most American RT viewers are either business owners, self-employed, or are employed in management roles.
More than 85 million residents of America’s key metropolitan areas receive RT around the clock via cable and satellite networks. RT expanded its audience in the United States dramatically in 2011 by being included in the packages of major cable networks in San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia, as well as Dish Network, one of America’s largest pay-TV operators with nationwide coverage.
Nielsen carried out the survey in the fall of 2011, polling a total of over 10,000 residents in Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
1. Against the results of a similar survey carried out in Washington, DC, and New York in the fall 2010
2. Daily audience
3. Weekly audience